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T O P I C R E V I E W

spacescribe

Just wondering how the number of people who traveled to KSC to watch launches has fluctuated over the years, from the Mercury to the shuttles. I seem to recall at its height (Apollo 11) it was in the millions, but am looking for something more accurate than my memory.

spacescribe

Can't remember the sources, but here's some stats I found:

Gemini - hundreds of thousands

Apollo 11 - estimated 1 million

Apollo 15 - 100 thousand people on just Route 1

Ken Havekotte

Without checking my notes (they're burried somewhere in my files), it was estimated to be near a million launch observers for Apollo 11 throughout Brevard County of the Florida Space Coast.

I think second, again without checking, may be the final manned lunar landing launch (Apollo 17), which was the only night-time liftoff of a manned space shot until 1983.

Estimated viewers for it in Dec. 1972, if I recall, were less than Apollo 11, but not by too much.

SpaceAholic

Much of the East Coast could see some of the night launches..does that count?

mach3valkyrie

From listening to Jack King's countdown commentary on Apollo 15... "there is an estimate of more than a million people here to view the launch. The traffic has been heavy since 2 o'clock this morning, the beaches are packed and the roads are packed."

Tom

quote:Originally posted by mach3valkyrie:The traffic has been heavy since 2 o'clock this morning, the beaches are packed and the roads are packed.

That's no lie.

I was a 15 year old space enthusiast that was lucky enough to have witnessed the Apollo 15 launch from just outside Gate 1 of CCAFS.

My dad and I arrived the day before the launch, and there were literally no rental cars available.

We got a ride to the viewing site but we walked back to the hotel in Cocoa Beach. There were so many vehicles on the road that morning, we were honestly "making better time walking back!"

Great memories.

J.L

Based on research research for book project, ASTP actually makes it into the top five crowds. A combination of being a summer launch, and the last Apollo to fly.

328KF

I was one of the estimated one million on hand to view STS-135. I've seen many shuttle launches but that was the biggest crowd I've seen by far. And that's just based on what I could tell from the Titusville area. The KSC viewing sites had to be overwhelmed.

I always wondered how they do these crowd estimates, but you can see on the NASA website that there were many crowd photos taken from a helicopter so they might use those to do it. I actually found our small group in one of the shots.

Blackarrow

I think it is important to distinguish between the numbers gathered within the precincts of Kennedy Space Center itself; and the numbers gathered within the general area (including Titusville, Port Canaveral and even Cocoa Beach (provided they were actually watching the launch!). Does KSC not keep a record of the official numbers within its precincts on a launch day?

robsouth

It does interest me to find out if the viewing numbers at the Cape did actually drop significantly for the launch of Apollo 13 or whether that's just a myth that has grown up to build up the impact that the explosion in the SM had on the public interest.

This is highlighted in the film, 'Apollo 13', by having the guys in Mission Control yawning and reaching for the coffee.

There may be some truth in the TV viewing figures being down but was launch day attendance down that much?

Blackarrow

On Wednesday 16th July, 1975, the day after the Apollo-Soyuz launch, Florida's "Today" newspaper reported that KSC spokesmen "...reported the largest turnout ever for a launch." Officials "...estimated 85,705 persons were on the Center grounds to watch the lift-off."

The same newspaper reported that early predictions of a million people in the area fell short, but added:

"Law enforcement officials out in force to handle the crowds said a last-minute rush of visitors boosted the estimated figure to between 600,000 and 750,000 people."

Ken Havekotte

"On center" (within KSC grounds only) invited launch quests is another category all by itself, as NASA did report those figures that I do have somewhere.

As J.L. posted, again without doing any homework checks, I think the top five manned space shots that had the most launch viewers from within Brevard County would be, in my opinion for now; Apollo 11, 17, 15, 16 and ASTP.

Brevard County would include all of KSC/CCAFS, as far north as Titusville, and far south as Melbourne, with everything in-between such as Rockledge, Cocoa, Merritt Island, Port St. John, Micco, the Cape-town area, Cocoa Beach, Patrick AFB, and just south of the air base to include Satellite Beach and all of the Melbourne/Bch/Palm Bay areas.

Rob Joyner

What about STS-95?

Ken Havekotte

Rob, A good question, and also, possibly STS-135! I still don't think we had a million folks here for Glenn's return to orbit, or for the final shuttle launch in 2011 even though it was a summer/July liftoff, but let me check on it. I was thinking more of the moon shots, but I will check it out and thanks.